Today, BT became the last major UK Internet provider to block subscriber access to The Pirate Bay. The ISP has gone further than other providers since it also restricts access to the new IP-addresses added by the deviant BitTorrent site in recent weeks. Nevertheless, even these additional efforts were quickly neutralized. Immediately after the block kicked in Pirate Bay added a set of new IP addresses to allow BT subscribers access again - for now at least.

In addition to blocking domain names such as thepiratebay.se and thepiratebay.org, BT went further than expected. In response to earlier censorship attempts Pirate Bay added two new IP-addresses – 194.71.107.80 and 194.71.107.81 – but those are now also included in BT’s filter.

BT subscribers who try to access Pirate Bay through the addresses above get an “Error – site blocked” message.

However, The Pirate Bay is not giving up so easily. In an immediate response the site has enabled two new IP-addresses (.82 and .83) which kicked in just minutes after BT’s block was implemented. And so the whack-a-mole continues.

A Pirate Bay insider told TorrentFreak that they can continue adding new addresses for years to come. For them, it’s more a statement than anything else as there are already dozens of proxy sites that allow users to access The Pirate Bay just fine.

The most frequently visited proxy in the UK, operated by the local Pirate party, is already among the top 600 sites in the UK. With the new block by BT it is expected to attract even more visitors. In addition, the Pirate Party is picking up a few new members in the process.

The above shows once again that while these blockades may stop some people from accessing a site, the really determined have plenty of options. Also, of those who simply give up on accessing The Pirate Bay, many will simply switch to other torrent sites.

The futility of these censorship efforts is an issue also being raised by Pirate Bay’s domain registrar. The .SE registrar states in a blog post that it would not seize the domain without a court order, adding that even if one was granted the site would simply switch to a new domain.

The various anti-piracy groups, however, believe that censoring sites such as The Pirate Bay is better than doing nothing at all.

“These developments are good for content creators, workers in the creative industries, and, ultimately, for consumers. As courts throughout Europe move to shut avenues of illicit content, they are helping to ensure that consumers will continue to have access to the compelling, legitimate, and virus-free content they want,” MPAA commented earlier.

Interestingly, the MPAA and other copyright holders have yet to demand similar measures from US Internet providers. But maybe that’s coming up next.